Boom swing mechanism for concrete mixers



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Patented May 26, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOOM S'WING MECHANISM FOR CONCRETE MIXERS Wisconsin Application June 26, 1939, Serial No. 281,298

2 Claims.

The invention relates to boom swing mechanism for concrete mixers, and has for one of its objects to provide an improved apparatus of this character which will be more efiicient in use than those which have been heretofore proposed.

It is quite common in concrete mixers of the paving type to provide a bucket for receiving the mixed concrete from the mixing drum and distributlng it over a relatively wide area. These buckets, which may hold a complete batch of a cubic yard or more, are mounted for reciproca tory travel upon a substantially horizontal boom which is pivotally connected at one end to the mixer frame for swinging movements about a vertical axis. The booms may range up to say thirty-tive feet in length, and their horizontal oscillatory movements coupled with the reciprocating traverse of the buckets upon them enables the placement of the mixture completely over an approximately semi-circular area having a radius of nearly the booms length before the paver need be moved to a new position.

In the earlier forms the boom was swung horizontally by hand, but more recently power drives, deriving power in various ways from the mixer power plant, have been employed. The present invention relates to a power drive of this character, and comprises essentially a reversing gear unit arranged to be driven from the mixer power plant, as for example by the mixer drum, and coupled through a cushioned worm and worm gear to the boom at the vertical pivot of the latter. The reversing gear unit includes a pair of constantly oppositely rotating gears, each having a clutch associated with it by means of which it may be coupled at will to the driving Worm, there preferably also being means for automatically disengaging the clutches whenever the operator removes his hand from the control lever, whereby the boom swing drive will be broken at all times except when the operator is actually manually controlling it. The constantly operating oppositely running gears may also have associated with them sprockets or other driving members constituting a power take-off for operating other of the distributing mechanism instrumentalities, such for example as means for inclining the boom in a vertical plane, and the bucket traverse mechanism, as described and claimed in our copending application liled June 26, 1939, Ser. No. 281,299.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as this description proceeds, the invention comprises the novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which like reference characters designate like parts in all the views:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away, of the rear or discharge end of a concrete mixer of the paving type, having a boom and bucket distributing mechanism, and provided with boom swing mechanism constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view, on a somewhat larger scale and partly in Section, of a portion of the parts shown in Fig. 1, as seen from the left of said figure;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view, taken approximately on the plane indicated by the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, looking down;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view, on a still larger scale, through the reversing gear unit, taken approximately on the plane indicated by the line 4 4 of Fig, 2, looking down;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional View through the reversing gear unit, taken approximately on the plane indicated by the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a plan View, partly broken away, ol the gear unit, illustrating the control lever in neutral position; and

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, showing the operating positions of the control lever.

Referring more particularly to the said drawings, IU indicates generally a concrete mixing machine of the paving type, comprising a framework II mounted upon crawler treads I2 or other suitable supporting and traction means. The said frame supports the mixing drum or receptacle I3, which is mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis by rollers I4, and is driven from an internal combustion engine or other motor, not shown. The axial discharge opening I5 of the mixing drum I3 is surrounded by the usual drip ring I6, and has associated with it a pivoted discharge chute I1, adapted at proper times to be entered into the said discharge opening by suitable mechanism, not shown, to intercept and conduct the mixed batch of concrete into the distributing bucket I8, which is mounted by means of a carriage or trolley I9 and rollers 20 for reciprocatory traverse upon the boom 2l in the customary manner by the usual traversing cables 26 and winding drum 21. The said boom may comprise a pair of spaced channel irons, which are horizontally pivoted near their inward journalled in a vertical bearing 24 supported by a'frame member 25. 'I'he horizontal pivot 22 permits the boom to be pivotally raised and lowered in a vertical plane by suitable block and tackle or other mechanism, not shown, while the caster 23 and vertical bearing 24 permit the boom to be oscillated in a horizontal plane, by the mechanism now to be described.

Secured to the mixing drum around the drip ring I6 is an annulus 30 carrying a sprocket 3| which is engaged by a chain 32 which also passes around a smaller sprocket 33 carried by the drive shaft 34 of the reversing gear unit 35, which is` mounted upon a bracket 36 carried by the frame This gear unit, which will be described more in detail later, has a driven shaft 31 which is connected by a flexible slip coupling 38 to an axially alined shaft 39 journaled in bearings 40 carried by a portion of the frame The shaft 39 has a worm 4| splined upon it intermediate the bearings 40, which worm meshes with a worm wheel 42 keyed or otherwise rigidly secured as at 43 to the upper end of the caster 23, as will be Clear from Figs. 2 and 3. At each end of the worm 4|, between it and the adjacent bearing 4|), there is a housing 44 containing a compression spring 45. These spring devices serve as yielding buffers or cushions for taking up the shock or strain of starting the horizontal swinging movements of the boom, as will be readily understood.

The reversing gear unit 35, as best shown in Figs. 4 and 5, comprises a housing 50 having a lateral extension in which the drive shaft 34 is journaled by bearings 52 and 53, which shaft carries the sprocket 33 at its outer end, and a bevel gear 54 at its innter end. A pair of axially alined bevel gears 55 and 56 mesh with the said gear 54 at opposite sides thereof, and have hubs 51 and 58 respectively, journaled in bearings 59 and 60 mounted in the end plates 6| and 62 of the housing 50. The respective gear hubs 51 and 58 have keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to them the driving members 63 and 64 of a pair of friction clutches, here shown as being of the cone type, and these clutch members have rigidly secured to them the sprockets 65 and 66 which serve as the driving elements of a chain-drive power take-off 66 for operating the bucket traverve and boom hoist mechanism of the paver, as fully disclosed in our said co-pending application Ser. No. 281,299.

The driven shaft 31 of the unit 35 extends axially through the aline hubs 51 and 58 of the gears 55 and 56, and is slidably and rotatably journaled in bearings 61 and 68 carried by the said hubs. Beyond the said hubs shaft 31 has secured to it the driven clutch members 69 and 10 which, through axial movements of the said shaft in one direction or the other from the neutral position illustrated in Fig. 4, are adapted to be brought into alternative engagement with the driving clutch members 63 and 64 respectively, as will be readily understood.

For shifting the shaft 31 axially to engage and disengage the clutches, the said shaft is provided intermediate the gears 55 and 56 with a shifting collar 1| mounted on bearings 12 and having pins 13 engaged by the bifurcated ends 14 of the arms of a shifting fork 16, which is keyed o1' otherwise rigidly secured to a vertical shaft 11 journaled in bearings 18 of the housing 50, see Fig. 5. The upper end of the shaft 11 extends outside the housing 59 and has rigidly secured to it an actuating arm 80, the outer end of which CTIv ends, as at 22, to a caster 23 which in turn is is provided with a pair of spaced lugs 8| arranged to receive between them the head 82 of a pin 83 carried by an extension 84 of the hub 85 of an operating lever 86. The said hub 85 is journaled upon a stub shaft 81, fixedly secured in and extending upwardly from the housing 50. The upper portion of the stub shaft 81 is squared, as indicated at 88, and slidably but non-rotatably carries a sleeve 89 having a flange 90 abutting the upper face of the hub 85. A compression spring 9| in interposed between the upper face of the ange 90 and a washer 92 secured to the end of the stub shaft above its squared portion by a nut 93, which spring constantly yieldingly maintains the flange 90 in engagement with the hub 85. The lower face of the flange 96 is provided with one or more V-shaped lugs 94 and the upper face of the hub 85 is provided with one or more complementary V-shaped depressions 95 for coacting with the said lugs 94. When the parts are in the neutral positions illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the lugs 94 are alined with and fit in the depressions 95, thus maintaining the parts in said neutral positions against unintentional displacement. However, when the parts are moved to either clutch-engaging position, through manual movement of the operating lever 86 from the neutral position illustrated in Fig, 6 to either of the positions shown in Fig. '7, the arcuate movement of the lever hub 85 will move its depressions 95 out of line with the lugs 94, which are held against rotation by the squared portion 88 of the stub shaft, and due to the camming action of the complementary surfaces of the lugs and depressions, the sleeve 89 will be forced upwardly against the pressure of the spring 9|. The parts are so constructed and arranged that the lugs never completely leave the depressions, so that upon release of the lever 86 by the operator, the spring 9|, through the camming action of the lug surfaces upon the complementary surfaces of the hub depressions, will automatically return the hub 85, lever 86 and the clutch elements 69 and 10 to the neutral position, thereby insuring against swinging movements of the boom 2| except when under the actual manual control of the operator.

The sprocket 33, shaft 34 and gear 54 are of course constantly driven from the chain 32 and sprocket 3| whenever the drum |3 is rotating, and the said gear, being always in mesh with the gears 55 and 56, constantly rotates them, together with their respective clutch members 63 and 64, and take-olf sprockets 65 and 66, in opposite directions, Power is therefore always instantly available for operating not only the boom swing mechanism of the present application, but also for the bucket traverse and boom hoisting mechanism of our said co-pending application Serial No. 281,299, whenever the drum is operating, which is usually the only time at which it is desired to operate the bucket and boom instrumentalities.

The housing 50 of the gear unit 35 is preferably completely closed through the use of suitable seals, and partially lled with lubricating oil or grease so that the gears and other parts within the housing operate in a bath of lubricant. Such lubricant may be introduced through a conduit 96 communicating with the interior of the housing adjacent its bottom, which conduit may have a filling plug 91 and a drain plug 98. A breather conduit, covered by a .breather cap 99, may also communicate with the interior of the housing, permitting ingress and egress of air.

The clutch members 69 and 10 are preferably splined to the shaft 31 and are axially adjustable thereon to properly position their facings |00 and |0| relative to the friction surfaces of the companion clutch members 53 and 64, and also to compensate f or wear of the said facings. For this purpose the clutch members 69 and 10 are provided with the hubs |02 and |03 respectively, the exteriors of which are threaded, as at |04 and |05, for engagement by the threaded nuts or sleeves |00 and |01, see Fig. 4. Axial movement of the nut |05 is prevented by a flange |08 formed as an integral part of the flexible coupling member 38, while a Washer |09 secured on the reduced end of shaft 31 by a nut H0, prevents axial movement of the nut or sleeve |01. Due to the threaded connections |04 and |05 between the nuts |06 and |01, and the hubs |02 and |03, when the said nuts are rotated in one direction or the other, the correspondingr clutch members 69 and 10 will be moved axially upon the shaft 31, whereby their facings |00 and |0| may be easily and quickly brought into proper position relative to the working faces of the clutch members 63 and 64. The adjustment nuts |06 and |01 may be locked against unintentional movement by set screws and ||2 seating respectively on the flange |08 and the washer |09.

While one form of the invention has been illustrated and described it is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction as well as the precise arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore it is not wished to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a concrete mixer having a source of power, a boom mounted for horizontal oscillatory movements, a distributing bucket mounted on said boom for reciprocatory traverse thereon, and traversing cables connected to said bucket, mechanism for transmitting power from said source to oscillate the boom and to reciprocate Search Room the bucket, comprising an input shaft un-direcfionally driven from said power source; a drivinc member carried by said shaft; a pair of driven members constantly driven in opposite directions by said driving member; a normally stationary driven shaft having driving connections with said boom; means for selectively alternatively connecting said driven shaft to either of said constantly oppositely rotating driven members, whereby to swing the boom in one direction or the other; and a power take-off drive element carried by each of said driven members and constantly rotating in opposite directions therewith, for transmitting power to said traversing cables to move the bucket on the boom in one direction or the other.

2. In a concrete mixer having a source of power, a boom mounted for horizontal oscillatory movements, a distributing bucket mounted on said boom for reciprocating traverse thereon, and traversing cables connected to said bucket, mechanism for transmitting power from said source to oscillate the boom and to reciprocate the bucket, comprising an input shaft uni-directionally driven from said power source; a driving gear carried by said shaf t; a pair of driven gears constantly rotated in opposite directions by said driving gear; a normally stationary driven shaft having driving connections with said boom, including a slip coupling; a pair of clutches, each comprising a driven member secured to said driven shaft and a driving member carried by the respective oppositely rotating driven gears; means for axially shifting said driven shaft to alternatively engage the driving and driven members of the respective clutches, whereby to swing the boom in one direction or the other; and a power take-off drive sprocket rigid with and constantly driven by each of said oppositely rotating driven gears, for transmitting power to said traversing cables to move the bucket on the boom in one direction or the other.

CHARLES F. BALL. LOUIS G. HILKEMEIER. 

